‘Terminator 5’ Kicking Off New Rebooted Trilogy

Paramount, Skydance, and Annapurna Pictures have all teamed up for the next installment in the ‘Terminator’ franchise and it’s no surprise that they want to revitalize the series. Last week, it was revealed that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was being sought for a starring role alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘Terminator 5’. However, a new report has surfaced throwing around a word that is often associated with old properties making a comeback: Reboot.

According to a press release, all the parties involved in bringing ‘Terminator’ back to prominence will “partner on a rebooted ‘Terminator’ movie” that will act as “the first in a stand-alone trilogy”. Aside from those details, the release focuses mostly on the production team. No stars are mentioned and no storyline is hinted at. It’s just a short and sweet announcement outlining the preliminary details.

The wording of this press release is very interesting because when taken literally, it suggests that this new movie would have nothing to do with the films that came before it from James Cameron, Jonathan Mostow, and McG. If that’s the case, then that negates all of Schwarzenegger’s recent claims that he would be returning to the role that made him famous all those years ago. But if Schwarzenegger does return, then how could the new film be considered a reboot since he’s so engrained in the mythology and prominent in the previous films?

Maybe they’ll pull a J.J. Abrams and set this new trilogy up in a different timeline so as to preserve the original cannon. Or they may not even address it and start over from scratch. There are many ways that this could go and most of those ways will likely anger long-time fans.

It’ll be interesting to see how this story develops as more information becomes available. What we do know for certain right now is that the next ‘Terminator’ film will be released on June 26, 2015.

What do you think about all this reboot talk? Do you think that they’re planning on starting from scratch on ‘Terminator’ without Arnold Schwarzenegger in a leading role? Would you be okay with the idea of Paramount doing something similar to ‘Star Trek’ and set the new movie in a parallel universe or a separate timeline? Share your thoughts on this in the comments.

Ben Silverio

Ben F. Silverio received a degree from Drexel University in the Screenwriting and Playwriting Program with a minor in Television Production. While at Drexel, Ben co-founded and co-hosted a film review show called The Pretentious Film Majors, which has evolved into a multi-format form of entertainment including blogs, podcasts on iTunes, articles in the school paper, and a potential tv show. Now armed with an extremely expensive piece of paper, Ben can begin climbing the treacherous ladder of the entertainment industry, which he hopes to do while streaming WWE wrestling matches, reading Marvel comics, and blogging about the excessive amount of movies and tv shows that he watches, all on the iPhone that is permanently attached to his hand.